The January transfer window is edging closer, with rumours about incoming and outgoings starting to grow as it does.

Over the weekend, Sky Sports put together a roundup of the five most strongly-linked incomings in the January window, as well as the two most likely outgoings. Let’s have a look at the individuals on their list:

Potential Incoming: Eric Bailly

• Age: 24
• Position: Centre-Back
• Contract until: 2020
• Club: Manchester United
• Estimated transfer value: £27m

Reports this month suggest Jose Mourinho is ‘ready to sell’ Eric Bailly, as the Manchester United manager looks to free up some space for a replacement centre-back. Sky call the centre-back ‘out of favour’ in Manchester, and say defensive reinforcements might be on Arsenal’s radar.

The Telegraph write that Mourinho is ‘prepared to cash in’ on Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo to bring in a new defender. It’s reportedly not clear whether Manchester United are in favour of the sale or not, particularly after Mourinho failed to convince them to sell Anthony Martial over the summer.

If Bailly does leave, the Express write that Arsenal have been touted with a move for him. Unai Emery knows the 24-year-old pretty well from his time in Spain, as the Ivory Coast international played for Espanyol and Villarreal whilst Emery was with Sevilla.

With Villarreal, the defender was massively impressive, and a big part of the La Liga side’s fantastic defensive record in 2015/16. For whatever reason, he’s never quite been able to consistently rediscover that form with United. Still so young for a centre-back, perhaps a move would help him get back to his best.

Click ‘Next’ for the other potential incomings and outgoings in Sky’s roundup

Potential Incoming: Nicolas Pepe

• Age: 23
• Position: Right Winger
• Contract until: 2022
• Club: LOSC Lille
• Estimated transfer value: £22.5m

The media have linked Pepe to Arsenal pretty heavily in recent weeks and months. Those links have only got stronger since the season got underway, with the winger scoring eight goals, providing six assists and winning multiple penalties for his side as well, in 14 appearances so far.

With Danny Welbeck’s injury, Arsenal are reportedly being forced to ‘rethink’ their January transfer plans, and they could move for Pepe sooner rather than later. The player himself recently admitted it was ‘good’ to be linked to the likes of the Gunners, Bayern and Dortmund.

The spanner in the works is that Pepe’s incredible start to the season has made his club very hesitant to sell. Lille president Gerard Lopez and vice-president Marc Ingla have both spoken publicly to say that, in principle, they don’t want to sell before the summer.

We’ll see if Arsenal can change their minds but, for now, let’s look at some alternative options.

Click ‘Next’ for the other potential incomings and outgoings in Sky’s roundup

Potential Incoming: Daniel Rugani

• Age: 24
• Position: Centre-Back
• Contract until: 2021
• Club: Juventus
• Estimated transfer value: £19.8m

Arsenal are ‘seriously monitoring’ the availability of Juventus’ Daniele Rugani, according to reports in the English media.

Express Sport write that Arsenal are following the centre-back closely, though Chelsea are also favourites to move for the 24-year-old. Various reports suggest Rugani would cost between €35m(£31m) and €50m (£44m).

Rugani has a contract with Juventus until 2021, and in the past, he’s chosen to commit his future to the club rather than pushing for a move. His agent admitted over the summer that he’d previously held talks with Arsenal over a transfer, but at the time he insisted the defender was happy with Juventus.

However, the signs suggest that’s starting to change. Rugani has really struggled to get into the Juventus team this season, only making three appearances in all competitions, two starts. He was also recently tagged in an Instagram post by girlfriend Michela Persico with the two of them learning English.

With a couple of years left on his contract and seemingly no place in Juventus’ first choice team, January could be the perfect time for Rugani to move on. Whether that’s to Arsenal, we’ll have to wait and see.

Click ‘Next’ for the other potential incomings and outgoings in Sky’s roundup

Potential Incoming: Sebastian Walukiewicz

• Age: 18
• Position: Centre-Back
• Contract until: 2020
• Club: Pogon Szczecin
• Estimated transfer value: £180k

Sven Mislintat’s team are scouting Sebastian Walukiewicz ahead of the January transfer window, according to recent reports.

Pogon Szczecin defender Walukiewicz is just 18 years old, but he’s reportedly already drawing the attention of some of Europe’s top clubs. Football.London write that Mislintat has identified the Polish u20 international as a potential addition to Unai Emery’s squad, but Barcelona and Southampton are also watching the youngster.

Walukiewicz has made 12 starts this campaign for Pogon Szczecin in the Polish first tier. Even though the league isn’t nearly as competitive as some of the best in Europe, for his age that’s still pretty impressive.

If Sven Mislintat is interested, that’s a good sign too. He brought Konstantinos Mavropanos to the Premier League from the Greek Superleague last season and, other than his recent injury problems, that seems to be going pretty well.

Click ‘Next’ for the other potential incomings and outgoings in Sky’s roundup

Potential Incoming: Mario Hermoso

• Age: 23
• Position: Centre-back
• Contract until: 2020
• Club: Real Betis
• Estimated transfer value: £18m

Recent reports from Spain suggest Arsenal are considering paying the €40m release clause for Espanyol defender Mario Hermoso in January.

Hermoso joined Espanyol from Real Madrid in 2017, having never appeared for Madrid’s first team after coming through their academy. Since then, the 23-year-old has made a name for himself in La Liga, to the point that he’s just received his first call-up for the Spanish national team.

Suddenly, there are rumours that Real Madrid want to activate their buy-back clause of €7.5m. However, Arsenal are also very interested, according to a report from Marca.

Hermoso has played every minute of Espanyol’s league campaign so far, scoring a couple of goals and helping them keep five clean sheets in their run up to fifth in the table (above Real Madrid).

It’s no surprise the big clubs are starting to take an interest, and that interest will only increase if the Spaniard makes his international debut over the break.

Click ‘Next’ for the two outgoings in Sky’s roundup

Potential Outgoings: Aaron Ramsey and Mohamed Elneny

In terms of outgoings, Sky list two midfielders as potentially leaving the club in January. It’s no surprise to see Ramsey mentioned, given the very public breakdown of contract talks with the Welshman.

Sky Germany report that Bayern Munich have shown an interest, particularly as they can agree on a pre-contract with the Arsenal star in the winter window.

Sky then add that Elneny ‘could also be on the move due to his struggle for game time’. The Egyptian midfielder hasn’t yet made a Premier League appearance, though the most recent absences have been through his injury. With any luck, he’ll be back and fit after the international break.

Nonetheless, it’s clear that Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Mesut Özil have nailed down the first-team spots, so Elneny may indeed be considering his options.

Follow this link if you want to check out Sky’s roundup yourself.